College roundup: Cougars rally for 5-4 victory over SUU

he Brigham Young University baseball team rallied from a 4-0 deficit to grab a 5-4 victory over Southern Utah on Tuesday.

PROVO — The Brigham Young University baseball team rallied from a 4-0 deficit to grab a 5-4 victory over Southern Utah on Tuesday. The Cougars scored five runs in their final three trips to the plate to claim the come-from-behind victory in the non-conference clash.

Southern Utah's Brad Royer, Chase Rezac and Marcus Romero recorded back-to-back singles in the first inning to give the Thunderbirds a 1-0 lead. In the second inning, Royer gave SUU another run when his infield single scored Taggart Lunceford from third and put SUU out in front 2-0.

SUU came up with two more runs in the fourth to stretch its lead to 4-0. After the first two batters safely reached base, Dave Ricker laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third. Bo Cuthbertson then hit a ball to the wall in right-center field for a sacrifice fly to score the first run of the inning and Royer reached base on an infield single for his second RBI to give the Thunderbirds a four-run advantage.

BYU used three doubles in the bottom of the fifth to plate a pair of runs and cut the SUU advantage in half. Adam Law started things off with drive down the right-field line, and Stephen Wells and Austin Hall added back-to-back RBI doubles to make it 4-2.

The Cougars then rallied to take the lead with three runs in the sixth inning. After BYU loaded the bases, Brock Whitney drove in two runs with an RBI single and Jaycob Brugman plated another run with a sacrifice fly to put BYU up 5-4.

Southern Utah starter Matt Nelson spread seven hits over six innings and allowed just two earned runs. Reliever Gage Bigelow (0-2) was charged with the loss after giving up three runs in the sixth inning. Jordan Parry (3-0) pitched 11?3 innings of scoreless relief to pick up the win for the Cougars.

Royer went 3-for-5 with two RBIs for SUU, while BYU second baseman Adam Hall went 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI and a run scored.

The win improves the Cougars' record to 19-21 this year, while the T-Birds fall to 15-29.

Softball

UTAH 3, UTAH VALLEY 2 (8 INNINGS): At Salt Lake City, junior outfielder Katelyn Elliott lined a single to right field and a Utah Valley misplay allowed Kelsi Hoopiiaina to plate the winning run in the University of Utah softball team's 3-2, eight-inning victory over UVU in its final non-conference game of the regular season on Tuesday at Ute Field. Utah (27-26, 1-20 Pac-12) earned its first extra-inning win of the year.

Hoopiiana started Utah's eighth frame with a single to right field before Elliott came through with the Utes' fourth hit of the day, another single to right. A miscue by the Wolverines' right fielder then allowed Hoopiiana to bring home the game-winning score.

Hoopiiaina turned in her 14th multi-hit performance of the year, while going 2-for-3 at the plate with a home run against the Wolverines, her eighth of the season.

Generra Nielson (20-16), a senior from Blanding, Utah, registered her 16th complete game of the year with an eight-inning performance in which she allowed just one earned run on only five hits to go along with 12 strikeouts.

Popular Comments

Outside looking in but "Rally" to beat a team that's shutting down
it's baseball program. SUU - no direspect intended, has not been anywhere
close to a competitive program for years - if ever. The BYU staff continues to
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